Jesus: A Prophet Without Honor!

117No prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Jesus would say this on more than one occasion (Luke 4:24; John 4:44). Applied to you or me, it may

be a moment of sadness and disappointment. Applied to Jesus, it is an event of tragic eternal consequences that even causes our Savior to be “amazed” at such unbelief (Mark 6:6).

This is Jesus’ second recorded, and His last, visit to His hometown of Nazareth as far as we know. His previous homecoming did not go well at all (Luke 4:16-30). Initially impressed by His preaching (Luke 4:22), the town He grew up in turned on Him and attempted to murder Him (Luke 4:28-30). In spite of such treatment, Jesus returns, this time with His 12 apostles. It will be a painful training time.

As we consider how Jesus was treated by His own hometown, His own family and friends, it might be good for us to reflect on how we treat this Servant King and how we respond to the One who was rejected by those who were certain they knew Him best. It is critically important that we see Jesus as He truly is and as He is revealed in Scripture, not as we might hope, wish, or want Him to be.

When You Consider Jesus, Are You Only Amazed?

Mark 6:1-3

Few people are neutral when it comes to Jesus. Everyone has an opinion. Unfortunately, those opinions often fail to measure up to the full biblical portrait. Too often we take a “cafeteria approach,” selecting those parts of Jesus that we find pleasing to our taste. Other aspects of His person and work we simply pass over.

Jesus leaves the area around the Sea of Galilee and heads to His hometown of Nazareth (cf. 1:9, 24). Nazareth was a nowhere town made up of nobodies. The population is estimated to have been between 150 and 200. It is never mentioned in the Old Testament, Apocrypha, or rabbinic literature. It only receives scant attention in the New Testament. Little wonder that Nathanael said in John 1:46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

His Teachings Should Astonish You, but That Is Not Enough (Mark 6:1-2)

On this return trip Jesus brings His disciples. This will prove to be most instructive for their upcoming ministry assignment (6:7-13, esp. v. 11). What their Master encounters, they will too.

Once again, on a Sabbath He taught in the synagogue. Again the people were “astonished,” overwhelmed, struck by what they were hearing118 from the son of Joseph (Luke 4:22) and Mary (Mark 6:3). Their amazement again turns to skepticism (vv. 2-3). They began to bat around five questions among themselves:

1. Where did this man get these things?
2. What is the wisdom given to Him?
3. How are these miracles performed by His hands?
4. Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
5. And are not His sisters here with us?

These are meant as disparaging questions. They did not deny He was saying and doing these things. This makes their rejection all the more amazing and makes them culpable. If He did not get these things, this wisdom, and these mighty works from God, then from whom? How? They choose to leave the question open.

Some chalked up what He said and did to Satan (cf. 3:22). In our day some chalk it up to a superior intellect and wit. Thus those who deny the supernatural—His miracles and His resurrection—can applaud His teaching. His teachings should astonish us, but that is not enough.

His Miracles May Captivate You, but That Is Not Enough (Mark 6:2)

The number of miracles is growing!

1. Peter’s mother-in-law (1:29-31)
2. Many more in Capernaum (1:32-34) 3. A leper (1:40-45)
3. A paralyzed man (2:1-12)
4. A man with a deformed hand (3:1-6)
5. Many again (3:7-12)
6. The storm and sea (4:35-41)
7. The Gerasene demoniac (5:1-20)
8. The woman who bled for 12 years (5:25-34)
9. Jairus’ daughter who had died (5:35-43)

His hometown does not deny all these things, but these things do not bring them to faith. They simply cannot reconcile what He has done with who they think He must be!

It is as if they are saying, “This is the Christ? This One we have known all our lives is the Son of God? Are you kidding? We may not be able to explain119 His miracles, but we know who He is. He is nothing and a nobody; of that we are certain.”

Apart from the eyes of faith, no one will see Jesus for who He truly is. In and of themselves, miracles are not enough. His miracles point to Him. They are divinely ordained signs, declaring in capital letters that this One is the Christ, the Son of God! Believe Him! Follow Him!

His Background Will Not Impress You, but So What? (Mark 6:3)

The derisive comments peak in verse 3.

“Isn’t this the carpenter?” Jesus is nothing more than a commoner who works with His hands. As a tekton, He builds things and repairs things. He is a handyman, a construction worker! He is a “man’s man” to be sure. Still, His occupation was not impressive, certainly not the stuff of an esteemed rabbi. He was blue-collar through and through.

“Isn’t this ... the son of Mary?” Perhaps this is nothing more than an indication that Joseph had died. On the other hand, this might be a cheap shot at the scandal of His birth. If so, they were taunting Him that He was an illegitimate child born to a whore.

His brothers James (Jacob) and Joseph were named after the patriarchs. Judah and Simon were named for famous Jewish revolutionaries. Here is a family hoping for the rescue and redemption of Israel. The Redeemer was indeed right there with them, but they missed it.

All of this is to say, “If anyone should know who you are, we should! You are nothing special. You are just one of us. You are a nobody, and you were a bastard child to top it off!”

Publius the Syrian (c. 2 bc) said, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Apparently this was the case with Nazareth and “the local boy makes good” named Jesus. He was just too ordinary. Our minds are made up about this homeboy! We will not let the evidence get in our way, and nothing will change our mind.

When You Consider Jesus, Are You Offended?

Mark 6:3-4

Not everyone responds to Jesus in the same way. Paul says His death on the cross as our substitute is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23). However, even before the cross, those who knew Jesus best found His ministry a scandal! Jesus’ teachings and miracles do not automatically produce faith. They actually offended those who changed120 His diapers, who learned the Torah and enjoyed table fellowship with Him, and who at one time gave Him hugs and kisses. Not anymore. All that has changed.

In Spite of Clear Evidence, You May Reject Him (Mark 6:3)

The word “offended” in verse 3 is skandalizomai. They are “scandalized” by all this talk and hoopla about Jesus. He offends their personal sensibilities. His works they cannot deny, and His words they cannot handle, but they do not care! In spite of overwhelming evidence they will not believe He is the Christ, the Son of God.

So two thousand years ago they were thinking, “A Jew from nowhere executed unjustly is the Savior and only Savior of the world? Impossible! No way! I am offended.” We are not the first to think so.

In Spite of Close Proximity, You May Dishonor Him (Mark 6:4)

Jesus responds with a saying He made famous. Aligning Himself with the prophetic tradition, He acknowledges with a broken heart His rejection by those who knew Him best, those you would have expected would stand with Him no matter what anyone else said or did. They knew Him but could not explain Him, so they rejected Him. His hometown, His relatives, even His own household cast their ballot against Him. This prophet from God meets the same fate as so many others who had gone before Him.

Sometimes we spend so much time with someone that we no longer appreciate them. For those of us raised in a Christian environment, this is certainly an ever-present danger we must guard against. In a sense we should never get comfortable with Jesus. His goal is not to make us comfortable. His goal is to bring us to repentance and faith, humbly falling at His feet confessing Him as Lord and God. He is not your homeboy, your buddy, or your soul mate. He is not your genie in a bottle obligated to grant your every wish.

Nor is He some ordinary guy who lived two thousand years ago, stirred things up for a few years, and got nailed to a cross for His troubles. His hometown got it wrong. His relatives, at least for a while, got it wrong. The religious leaders got it wrong. Rome got it wrong. And still today people get Him wrong!

Do you see Him for who He truly is and call Him Lord, Savior, Master, King? Do you let Jesus set the agenda for your life and—as 8:34-38 says—for your death?

When You Consider Jesus, Are You Guilty of Unbelief?

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Mark 6:5-6

Jesus left His hometown of Nazareth and moved on to teach in other villages. To our knowledge He never again returned home. The unbelief of the Nazarenes brought about a twofold reaction.

Unbelief Is One Thing That Limits Jesus (Mark 6:5)

Jesus did no mighty works in His hometown. He healed just a few.

How could the omnipotent Son of God be bound, limited by the unbelief of Nazareth? He could not do miracles because He would not in the face of blatant unbelief. Morally and spiritually He was constrained not to reveal His power in such an environment of rejection and unbelief. “He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Oh, but imagine what He would have done in the presence of faith!

Come to Him in faith like Jairus and the woman who bled for 12 years, and He will heal your body and bring your only daughter back from death (5:21-43). Reject Him in unbelief, and He does not do for you what He does for others. You also send Him on His way in search of those who will listen to His message and embrace Him as Lord.

Tim Keller is helpful here: “Jesus’ miracles were not ‘magic tricks’ designed to prove how powerful he was, but ‘signs of the kingdom’ to show how his redemptive power operates. His miracles always healed and restored and delivered people in ways that revealed how we are to find him by faith and have our lives transformed by him.... He ‘could’ not do a deed that would not redeem” (Keller, “Mark,” 62).

Hebrews 11:6 reminds us, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him” (emphasis added).

Unbelief Is One Thing That Amazes Jesus (Mark 6:6)

Only twice in the Bible is Jesus said to be amazed. In Luke 7:9 He saw the faith of a Roman centurion who believed He could heal from a distance with just a word. And in Mark 6:6 He was amazed by the unbelief of those of His own hometown. Compare versions.

Jesus and His hometown are dumbfounded, each by the other. They could not get past Jesus’ humble origins and familiar feel. Jesus was astounded at their unbelief in light of what He said and did. This sadly foreshadows the unbelief of the nation of Israel as a whole, of many in our world, and even of many in our churches.

122It is a shock to our system that the sovereign God would come to us from such a humble town, a humble family, a humble trade, and a humble nation. It is a scandal to be sure. Once again we see, “God’s ways are not our ways!”

The preacher Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) said, “Familiarity breeds contempt, but only with contemptible things or among contemptible people” (Wiersbe, Be Diligent, 59). The contempt shown by the citizens of Nazareth said nothing about Jesus, but it said a lot about them.

What about you and me? Do we show contempt toward the Jesus revealed in Scripture? Are we “scandalized” by the simplicity of His gospel? Are we offended by the unfairness of its message that says a child molester or even a serial rapist and murderer on death row can be made right with God by childlike faith in Jesus Christ? Or do we allow the biblical evidence to slay our biases and reshape our preconceived notions of who Jesus must be for us to accept Him and trust Him?

Or again, have we become so familiar with Him, having been raised in church all our lives, that His words no longer convict, His miracles no longer astonish, and His death on the cross no longer strikes the chord of “Amazing Grace”? Familiarity can blind us to the greatness and glory of a Savior if we are not careful. Spiritually inoculated at some point in life, we become immune to the real thing. I have seen it far too many times. We must not come to Jesus on our terms but on His. This prophet was without honor in His own hometown. We cannot make the same mistake in our own hearts. The consequences are eternal.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Did any of your classmates surprise you at your class reunion because of the good things they had accomplished? How did you feel about it: Were you happy, proud, or skeptical?
2. Why might the people in Jesus’ hometown have resented Him? Is the response of a person’s hometown and family a reliable indicator of whether the “prophet” is genuine and legitimate?
3. List some of the things Jesus said and did that are astonishing. Do non-Christians acknowledge that He said and did those things?
4. How is it possible for a person to see what Jesus did and yet deny that He is the Savior, the Son of God?
5. What kinds of credentials do you expect spiritual leaders to have? Are the most important credentials where they went to school, how well-spoken they are, who recommends them, or something else?
6. Should we avoid offending people when we tell them about Jesus?
7. 123Are you familiar and comfortable with any “famous” person? Do you sometimes forget that other people hold them in awe? Have you become too familiar with Jesus?
8. Can you think of any songs or dramatic presentations that treat Jesus too familiarly?
9. What are some biblical examples of God or Jesus doing miracles in spite of people’s unbelief?
10. Have you ever been amazed that people don’t believe in Jesus despite the evidence? Do you sometimes display amazing lack of trust in Jesus?